minivanhighway

Hi

I just wanted to say something here, if you'll let me be all gushy for a minute (I apologize if its a bit effusive or long-winded, but hear me out): From the first time I flipped through the TV one night and stumbled across Tom Goes to the Mayor back in 2005, I became hooked on something that, as strange as it is to say it, has come to be a big part of my life and has come to define my sensibilities in a lot of ways.

Prefacing this with the fact that I don't usually like people blindly proselytizing how great this or that TV show/movie/album is... Just about every single thing you guys have put out has been so consistently and uncommonly good, and it just continues to get better with time. I was never a fan of Adult Swim in general, found the cartoons to be goofy and contrived, but your stuff always stood out as different. As you progressed to Awesome Show, I followed, and what you say with your work - the editing, the timing, the style, the discomfort, the obsolescence and absurdity of things in the T&E universe - is so refreshing, unique, and brilliant. And more importantly, all the nightmarishness/public-access/infomercial parodying and commentary is always secondary to things just being plain funny in themselves. That is, more than any other comedy group/show/movie/material, I can sit down with Awesome Show or Check it Out (Or hell, even Tim's twitter account) time and again and laugh until my stomach hurts, because you guys just intuitively understand what is funny. What the viewer sees is not people who just write comedy for a career, but two people who are so naturally funny themselves in realtime, that the dialogue and interactions generated (I immediately think of conversation between Tom and the Mayor in the Mayor's office, or the Blues Brothers2012/rango interviews, etc) make for an endless comedy gold mine.

I'm always baffled how people just plain don't get it - commentary on the show is always filled with mention of "what drugs you guys must be on" and the "random and crazy acid-induced public access channel" style of the show. While the aesthetic is certainly there, the substance of your work is, in itself, of such high quality that it is easily on par with (and beyond) any of the great TV comedy we've had in the past 10 years (Arrested Development, early seasons of The Office, etc). While your work will always be polarizing, I think you guys often get lauded for being wacky and don't get enough credit for making incredibly sharp, layered, smart, meaningful comedy: it is honest-to-God cutting edge.

I just wanted to say thank you for creating and doing all of this. I buy everything on itunes and DVD as it comes out and have never had another artist/musician/etc who I feel so confident supporting. I have seen the "Family" Episode of Check it Out and all the Morning Prayer with Skott and Behr sketches so many times that its embarrassing. From TGTTM, the podcasts, to Awesome Show, Nite Live, Check it Out, the Terrys, Father and Son, you guys just keep getting better and better as your style and message mature. Thank you for doing what you do, and thank you for putting out consistent, high quality art. It has been a great pleasure following your work over the years. Finally, and I really mean this... thank you for bringing so much enjoyment to my life. You guys are truly my heroes.

aaaand fanboy rant over.

I love the Best Show's relationship with music, and you guys are obviously both huge music fans. Tom has made a lot of his musical preferences known, and based on Jon's career, there is a lot of overlap in taste. But I've always been curious: are there any bands/music that one of you loves that the other hates?

What sorts of cultural things, even non-musical, are you completely at odds with each other?